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Bruce Lee did his best to kill the kata. "Why should anybody do forms," he queried. And, the one that most people remember, "Boards don't fight back!"
Unfortunately, Bruce was wrong. Forms are fantastic training tools. If they do have shortcomings in them these problems can easily be corrected.
First and foremost, when doing a form, one gets one heck of a work out. With ten minutes for an average karate form, do a form a twelve times and you will be sweating like a gosh darned pig. They don't only make for good body calisthetics, but they are n excellent cardio workout.
Within a form you will find a virtually unlimited number of techniques. Not everybody will like and use every techniques. People prefer different things, and they have different shapes and sizes, and so on.
But with such a vast array of potential techniques to choose from, the wealth of knowledge in a form is absolutely stunning. And every move has variations and permutations and deviations. It is easy and fun to sort through all these techniques and select the ones you like, and then make them work within the imperfect playground of a battlefield.
The real blessing of kata isn't just found in the vast array of potential techniques or body conditioning. The real blessing is something else altogether. The real blessing can be defined in a simple word labeled 'control.'
A fight is, at heart, the defining example of out of control. A person who has gotten in a fight has lost control. Thus, to win in a fight is to have control.
People, you see, practice controlling themselves by practicing kata. A person is is controlling himself if he is practicing kata. Really, it doesn't matter if they win a fight if they have lost the battle for themselves.
Unfortunately, Bruce was wrong. Forms are fantastic training tools. If they do have shortcomings in them these problems can easily be corrected.
First and foremost, when doing a form, one gets one heck of a work out. With ten minutes for an average karate form, do a form a twelve times and you will be sweating like a gosh darned pig. They don't only make for good body calisthetics, but they are n excellent cardio workout.
Within a form you will find a virtually unlimited number of techniques. Not everybody will like and use every techniques. People prefer different things, and they have different shapes and sizes, and so on.
But with such a vast array of potential techniques to choose from, the wealth of knowledge in a form is absolutely stunning. And every move has variations and permutations and deviations. It is easy and fun to sort through all these techniques and select the ones you like, and then make them work within the imperfect playground of a battlefield.
The real blessing of kata isn't just found in the vast array of potential techniques or body conditioning. The real blessing is something else altogether. The real blessing can be defined in a simple word labeled 'control.'
A fight is, at heart, the defining example of out of control. A person who has gotten in a fight has lost control. Thus, to win in a fight is to have control.
People, you see, practice controlling themselves by practicing kata. A person is is controlling himself if he is practicing kata. Really, it doesn't matter if they win a fight if they have lost the battle for themselves.
About the Author:
Al Case has researched the martial arts for 40+ years. He has revealed the Secrets of the Martial Arts at Monster Martial Arts.
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